Monday, January 31, 2011

Books of 2010

Complete list is in the sidebar way down somewhere on the right. 39 was quite a long way short of my stated goal of one a week. I started well, but quickly tailed off with a too-late surge in the last three months, as you can see from the chart below. This year I am going to aim for 52 again, but suspect that anticipated lack of sleep from late May onwards may make it hard to achieve again.
More worrying, however, as the following graph clearly illustrates is the gap between books read and books acquired. Luckily most of my 2010 Christmas books actually arrived in January, otherwise the gap would have been even more alarming.
Top ten is below, with statistics underneath. Apparent again is a heavy bias towards fiction, male authors and books published in the last three years.

Top 10
1 Let the Great World Spin – Colum McCann
2 Waterlog – Roger Deakin
3 The Magnetic North – Sarah Wheeler
4 A Lie About My Father – John Burnside
5 Started Early, Took My Dog – Kate Atkinson
6 Zeitoun – Dave Eggers
7 Zero History – William Gibson
8 The Stars in the Bright Sky – Alan Warner
9 The Broken Shore – Peter Temple
10 Men in Space – Tom McCarthy

Statistics
Fiction: 29 titles
Non-fiction: 10 titles
Number of authors: 39
Male authors: 32
Female authors: 7

Books published in 2010: 11
Books published in 2009: 13
Books published in 2008: 6
Books published in 2007: 4
Books published in 2006: 3
Books published in 2005: 1
Books published 2000-04: 1
Books published 1990-99: 0
Books published 1980-89: 0
Books published before 1980: 0

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Song for Sunday

Broadcast – Winter Now

Very sad to hear about the death of Trish Keenan from pneumonia. Broadcast were always one of those bands that I felt I should like more than I actually did. Their left-field, wilfully experimental side always seemed to pound the tuneful, bewitching pop side into submission. But there were always enough moments when the two sides combined into something magical to make me give them another chance whenever a new record came out.

There is a lovely remembrance here, along with some more clips of their finer moments.

Band/artist of the week: The National
Song of the week: British Sea Power – Living is so Easy

Thursday, January 13, 2011

2010 music by numbers

Probably of interest to absolutely no-one but me, but according to last.fm these are the top 50 bands/artists and tracks I listened to last year. I can't remember exactly, but I think my total plays stood at around 60,000 at the beginning of last year. As 2011 started it was sitting at 92,378, which would mean about 30,000 tracks for the year or roughly 500 a week.
You can see the up-to-date charts here, if you are so inclined, and feel free to paste your own lists into the comments or even better befriend me on last.fm so I can have a look myself!

Artists/bands
1 The National  (1,581)
2 Bruce Springsteen (718)
3 Mogwai (711)
4 Frightened Rabbit (630)
5 Saint Etienne (547)
6 Idlewild (506)
7 Sigur Rós (503)
8 Malcolm Middleton (485)
9 Arcade Fire (483)
10 Radiohead (482)
11 R.E.M. (446)
12 Tindersticks (416)
13 Efterklang (404)
14 We Were Promised Jetpacks (360)
15 U2 (347)
16 Girls (342)
17 Venice is Sinking (339)
18 Manic Street Preachers (310)
19 Belle and Sebastian (307)
20 Rose Elinor Dougall (298)
21 Hello Saferide (297)
22 The Very Best (295)
23 The xx (288)
24 Low (276)
25 British Sea Power (275)
26 Tanya Donelly (272)
27 Burial (270)
28 Moby (264)
28 Lucinda Williams (264)
30 The Rural Alberta Advantage (259)
31 Runrig (245)
32 Billy Bragg (237)
33 Big Country (235)
34 Phantogram (230)
35 Suede (226)
36 Bob Mould (225)
36 Marillion (225)
38 Art of Fighting (224)
39 Placebo (219)
40 Amadou & Mariam (218)
41 Portishead (213)
42 David Bowie (206)
43 For a Minor Reflection (203)
44 Glasvegas (198)
45 Little Birdy (196)
46 The Cure (195)
47 Interpol (193)
48 Black Box Recorder (188)
49 Camera Obscura (186)
50 Gersey (182)

Tracks
1 The National – Bloodbuzz Ohio (131)
2 Ben Sollee & Daniel Martin Moore – Something, Somewhere, Sometime (89)
3 Venice is Sinking – Compass (80)
4 The National – Afraid of Everyone (79)
5 Rose Elinor Dougall – Find Me Out (78)
6 We Were Promised Jetpacks – Conductor (72)
7 Girls – Morning Light (71)
8 Hello Saferide – Anna (70)
9 The Soft Pack – C'mon (69)
10 Phosphorescent – The Mermaid Parade (68)
10 Efterklang – Alike (68)
12 Sambassadeur – Stranded (64)
13 Venice is Sinking – Falls City (63)
14 Basia Bulat – Go On (60)
14 The Concretes – Good Evening (60)
16 The Rural Alberta Advantage – Don't Haunt This Place (58)
17 Amadou & Mariam – Sénégal fast food (56)
18 Black Box Recorder – Seasons in the Sun (53)
18 Roky Erickson w/ Okkervil River – Goodbye Sweet Dreams (53)
20 Land of Talk – Some Are Lakes (Radio Mix) (52)
20 Casiokids – Grønt lys i alle ledd (52)
20 The Very Best – You Got The Love (Florence - The XX Remix) (52)
23 Phantogram – When I'm Small (51)
24 Laura Marling – Alpha Shallows (50)
24 Land of Talk – May You Never (50)
26 Tracey Thorn – Why Does The Wind? (Radio Edit) (49)
27 Taken by Trees – Anna (48)
27 Apollo Ghosts – Library Card Amulet (48)
27 The New Pornographers – Your Hands (Together) (48)
30 Love Is All – Repetition (47)
30 Clogs – Last Song (47)
32 Fulton Lights – Healing Waters (46)
32 The National – Anyone's Ghost (46)
34 The National – England (45)
35 Wild Beasts – This Is Our Lot (43)
35 Rose Elinor Dougall – Carry On (43)
37 Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Hysteric (42)
37 Wye Oak – I Hope You Die (42)
37 Unknown Mortal Orchestra – FFunny Ffrends (42)
40 The National – Slow Show (41)
40 Frightened Rabbit – Fast Blood (41)
40 The National – Little Faith (41)
43 The National – Conversation 16 (40)
44 The xx – Crystalised (39)
45 Frightened Rabbit – Head Rolls Off (38)
45 The Dø – At Last (38)
45 We Were Promised Jetpacks – Keeping Warm (38)
45 For a Minor Reflection – Dansi Dans (38)
45 The National – Terrible Love (38)
50 We Were Promised Jetpacks – Quiet Little Voices (37)

Saturday, January 8, 2011

The Mermaid Parade (2010 as a mix-tape)


Hopefully copies should be arriving around now, so it must be time for the track listing of 2010s best-of CD. Seemed to be a fairly easy selection to make this year, although I did start out with a list of about 40 tracks. Not quite as many completely new bands as last year, but still a majority were unheard before the start of the year. 

The National – Bloodbuzz Ohio
Rose Elinor Dougall – Carry On
Metric – Sick Muse
Bettie Serveert – The Pharmacy
The Concretes – Good Evening
British Sea Power – Living Is So Easy
Three Mile Pilot – Still Alive
The Rural Alberta Advantage – Don't Haunt This Place
Ben Sollee & Daniel Martin Moore – Something, Somewhere, Sometime
The Soft Pack – C'mon
Kathleen Edwards – In State
Blitzen Trapper – Heaven and Earth
Stornoway – I Saw You Blink
Laura Marling – Rambling Man
Phosphorescent – The Mermaid Parade
Sambassadeur – Stranded
Darkstar – Deadness
For a Minor Reflection – Fjara


Let me know in the comments what your favourites are, which ones you can't stand and anything else that you think should have been on the list. If you would like a copy all you need to do is ask nicely ...

Sunday, January 2, 2011